Explosive Growth of Christianity, Missions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Explosive Growth of Christianity, Missions in Sub-Saharan Africa

A new study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life shows the largest growth in Christianity during the past 100 years has occurred in sub-Saharan African countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Nigeria, according to the Abilene Reporter-News. In 1910, just 1.4 percent of the world's Christians lived in sub-Saharan Africa, but in 2010 that number had grown to 24 percent. And now, instead of Christianity being spread into African nations by missionaries, African converts are now the ones taking the message to the rest of the world. Many large churches in Europe are also now filled with African Christians who escaped persecution, said Larry Henderson of Abilene Christian University (ACU). "Europeans and North Americans are no longer in the driver's seat [of world missions]," he said. "African Christian leaders have taken the ball and run with it," said Wimon Walker of ACU.